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Wednesday, October 3, 2012

31 Days of Halloween 2012: The Burrowers

An
appreciation by Bob Ignizio

Writer/director
J.T. Petty's THE BURROWERS is a blend of classic
westerns like THE SEARCHERS and serious-minded ensemble horror
films like John Carpenter’s THE THING and Spielberg’s
JAWS, with a touch of George Romero style social commentary
thrown in for good measure. Set in the Dakota territories just a few
years after the Civil War, the film opens with a family of settlers
under siege by unseen attackers. Some are killed, while others are
taken away into the night. When the carnage is discovered by
neighbors the next morning, it is assumed the attack was carried out
by Indians despite considerable evidence to the contrary. A search
party is hastily formed to look for survivors and exact vengeance,
but it won't be long before they're more concerned with their own
survival.

While other monster movies released
around the same time like SLITHER and FEAST tended
towards camp, THE BURROWERS
is refreshingly serious, with only occasional comic relief
coming naturally from the characters and some well written dialog
reminiscent of “Deadwood” minus the creative profanity. Petty
lets his film unfold at a measured pace, ratcheting up the suspense
and giving us characters that are engaging and memorable, even the
ones who aren't particularly likable. The film also manages to deal
with issues of racism, environmentalism, and romanticized ideals of
the old west without being heavy handed or grinding the story to a
screeching halt.

Of course this being a creature
feature, it helps to have a cool, original monster. The titular
menaces here are sort of like giant, vicious, humanoid mole rats that
inject their victims with poison that paralyzes and then liquefies
the internal organs for easier feeding, leaving their prey alive for
the long and painful process so as to insure maximum freshness. The
creatures look their best when brought to life using old school latex
effects techniques, the CGI versions coming off as somewhat less
convincing. Considering how good everything else about this movie
is, though, that seems a pretty minor complaint.